"Introduction to Environmental History" provides a comprehensive overview of the interplay between human societies and the natural world throughout history. This thought-provoking book explores various aspects of environmental history, ranging from the historical roots of environmentalism to global perspectives on environmental challenges. It delves into the significance of understanding environmental history and offers insights into the current environmental issues that threaten our planet. Furthermore, it presents solutions and recommendations for sustainable practices, conservation efforts, and the future of environmental history. The book begins with an introduction to the field of environmental history, highlighting its importance in understanding the dynamic relationship between human beings and their environment. It examines the historical roots of environmentalism, tracing the practices and attitudes towards the environment in pre-industrial societies and the profound impact of the Industrial Revolution. A global perspective is then explored, with dedicated chapters focusing on different regions of the world, including Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, Australia and Oceania, South America, and even Antarctica. This broad view highlights the diverse environmental challenges faced by various cultures and societies throughout history. The book further delves into environmental challenges within the four spheres of the Earth: lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. It examines issues such as deforestation, land degradation, water scarcity, water pollution, climate change, air pollution, biodiversity loss, and endangered species. In the subsequent chapters, the book delves into the current environmental challenges that humanity confronts today. It explores the impacts of climate change, pollution on human health, biodiversity loss, population growth, food insecurity, poverty, environmental degradation's health risks, oceans acidification, depletion of natural resources, water scarcity, and the consequences of environmental disasters. To address these challenges, the book presents potential solutions, emphasizing sustainable practices, renewable energy sources, and conservation efforts. It highlights the benefits of adopting these measures and calls for collective action to safeguard the planet for future generations. The future of environmental history is also contemplated, reflecting on the past, examining the present, and providing recommendations for future action. It explores the role of environmentalists and various events that promote environmental awareness and action. Lastly, the book includes a section on environmental disasters, shedding light on the detrimental impacts of activities such as mining, deforestation, natural disasters, water pollution, plastic pollution, oil spills, forest fires, industrial pollution, smog, nuclear accidents, and transportation-related environmental challenges. "Introduction to Environmental History" serves as a valuable resource for students, scholars, and anyone interested in understanding the historical context of our environmental challenges and finding sustainable solutions to create a better future. It offers a comprehensive exploration of environmental history, the current state of our planet, and the urgent need for action to protect and preserve our environment.

The Companion to Global Environmental History offers multiple points of entry into the history and historiography of this dynamic and fast-growing field, to provide an essential road map to past developments, current controversies, and future developments for specialists and newcomers alike. Combines temporal, geographic, thematic and contextual approaches from prehistory to the present day Explores environmental thought and action around the world, to give readers a cultural, intellectual and political context for engagement with the environment in modern times Brings together environmental historians from around the world, including scholars from South Africa, Brazil, Germany, and China

Since around 1500 C.E., humans have shaped the global environment in ways that were previously unimaginable. Bringing together leading environmental historians and world historians, this book offers an overview of global environmental history throughout this remarkable 500-year period. In eleven essays, the contributors examine the connections between environmental change and other major topics of early modern and modern world history: population growth, commercialization, imperialism, industrialization, the fossil fuel revolution, and more. Rather than attributing environmental change largely to European science, technology, and capitalism, the essays illuminate a series of culturally distinctive, yet often parallel developments arising in many parts of the world, leading to intensified exploitation of land and water. The wide range of regional studies—including some in Russia, China, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Southern Africa, and Western Europe—together with the book's broader thematic essays makes The Environment and World History ideal for courses that seek to incorporate the environment and environmental change more fully into a truly integrative understanding of world history. CONTRIBUTORS: Michael Adas, William Beinart, Edmund Burke III, Mark Cioc, Kenneth Pomeranz, Mahesh Rangarajan, John F. Richards, Lise Sedrez, Douglas R. Weiner

What is environmental history? It is a kind of history that seeks understanding of human beings as they have lived, worked, and thought in relationship to the rest of nature through the changes brought by time. In this new edition of his seminal student textbook, J. Donald Hughes provides a masterful overview of the thinkers, topics, and perspectives that have come to constitute the exciting discipline that is environmental history. He does so on a global scale, drawing together disparate trends from a rich variety of countries into a unified whole, illuminating trends and key themes in the process. Those already familiar with the discipline will find themselves invited to think about the subject in a new way. This new edition has been updated to reflect recent developments, trends, and new work in environmental history, as well as a brand new note on its possible future. Students and scholars new to environmental history will find the book both an indispensable guide and a rich source of inspiration for future work.

Global Environmental History introduces this rapidly developing field through a broad and thought-provoking range of expert contributions, it will be an essential resource for students of Environmental History and Global History.

Hardly a day passes without journalists, policymakers, academics, or scientists calling attention to the worldwide scale of the environmental crisis confronting humankind. While climate change has generated the greatest alarm in recent years, other global problems-desertification, toxic pollution, species extinctions, drought, and deforestation, to name just a few-loom close behind. The scope of the most pressing environmental problems far exceeds the capacity of individual nation-states, much less smaller political entities. To compound these problems, economic globalization, the growth of non-governmental activist groups, and the accelerating flow of information have fundamentally transformed the geopolitical landscape. Despite the new urgency of these challenges, however, they are not without historical precedent. As this book shows, nation-states have long sought agreements to manage migratory wildlife, just as they have negotiated conventions governing the exploitation of rivers and other bodies of water. Similarly, nation-states have long attempted to control resources beyond their borders, to impose their standards of proper environmental exploitation on others, and to draw on expertise developed elsewhere to cope with environmental problems at home. This collection examines this little-understood history, providing case studies and context to inform ongoing debates.